Early in the history of Oakland University (OU), academic excellence was stressed at the expense of competitive intercollegiate athletics. While the focus on academic excellence has continued and expanded, the university has also come to recognize the importance of intercollegiate athletics. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, OU competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) as the Pioneers, becoming a perennial powerhouse in numerous sports and winning multiple National Championships in men's and women's swimming. During the transition to NCAA Division I status in 1998–99, OU's sports teams became the Golden Grizzlies.

Oakland University won ten national NCAA Division II titles and 16 teams were national runner-up in NCAA Division II. Men's swimming and diving won five championships and finished as runner-up 10 times. Five women's swimming and diving teams also finished first and three came in second. The men's soccer team was NCAA Division II runner-up in 1986, 1994, and 1996.

In the 2010–11 season, Oakland narrowly lost 77–76 to then-No. 7 Michigan State before beating then-No. 7 University of Tennessee 89–82. In the 2011–12 season, Oakland beat Tennessee for the second year in a row 89–81.

In the 2016-17 season, Oakland placed first in their league, earning a trip to the National Invitation Tournament as a 7 seed, where they lost to Richmond in the second round after upsetting 2nd seeded Clemson in the opening round.

The men's soccer team at OU will be coached by Eric Pogue, starting in the 2009 season. Pogue was an assistant under Gary Parsons for seven years. Parsons coached Oakland for 28 years and accumulated 363 wins in his coaching career, and made the NCAA Division I tournament on multiple occasions. Another of Parsons' former players, Jason Perry, will serve as an assistant to Pogue. In 2004, Perry was drafted by the Los Angeles Galaxy in the third round of the Major League Soccer draft.

The women's soccer team at OU is coached by Juan Pablo Favero. In addition to making the NCAA Division I tournament in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2006, the team qualified again in 2007. They lost to Purdue University, 4–0, in the first round of the tournament on November 16, 2007.

Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams at Oakland are coached by Pete Hovland. Hovland began coaching the men's team in 1981–82. He took over the women's program in 2001 and has been coaching the two since.

Oakland's men's team has won five NCAA Division II national championships (1980, 1994–1997) and were runners-up 10 times (1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987–1991, 1993). Through 2018, the men's team has won 40 consecutive conference meets, including every GLIAC (21), Summit League (14) and Horizon League (5) conference meet the team has participated in.

The Golden Grizzlies women's team won five consecutive NCAA Division II national championships from 1990–1994. They were runners-up the following three seasons (1995–1997). Through 2018, the team has won 31 conference meets, 8 in the GLIAC, 4 in the National Independent Conference (NIC), 14 in The Summit League and 5 in the Horizon League. The team won every Summit League (14) and Horizon League (5) conference meet, 4 of the 8 NIC conference meets, and 8 of the 9 GLIAC conference meets it participated in. They have currently won 24 consecutive conference tournaments.

The coach of the men's and women's track teams at OU is Paul Rice. Track is the newest of OU's 16 NCAA Division I sports. MIcah Jones made history in 2011 as the first individual to lead the track team to the nationals.

In fall of 2012, Oakland University approved a club football team.[11] The National Club Football Association is a 22 team league that uses the majority of NCAA rules. The Grizzlies compete in the Great Lakes East Conference of the NCFA. OU plays teams such as Ohio State, Miami (OH), UW-Milwaukee, and Wright State club football teams, as well as a varsity teams in Concordia (AnnArbor), Olivet, and Defiance. The first season received attention from NFL Film's "Together We Make Football."[12] Their first season concluded with a 5-2 record and #8 in the league. In their second year of existence, the 2014 team went undefeated at 9-0 winning their first NCFA National Championship.

The Oakland men's club ice hockey team won the American Collegiate Hockey Association's Division 2 national championship in 2004, was national runner-up in 2005, and in 2006 again won the Division 2 championship. The team moved up to ACHA Division 1 for the 2006–07 season and won the national championship over Penn State University by a score of 5–1. In addition, the Grizzlies career scoring leader, Will McMahon, was named tournament and regular season MVP after tallying 47 goals and 29 assists in 36 games (including playoffs). McMahon finished his career with four ACHA National Player of the Year awards with career totals of 240 goals and 140 assists (380 total points). McMahon was drafted by the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL following his final season (2007) making him the first Grizzly drafted in a professional hockey league. The team is currently coached by former Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey Captain Jeremy Bachusz, who led Oakland to a 25–11–3 record in his first season. The 25 wins was the most for OU Hockey at the Division 1 level. The Grizzlies currently compete in the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League conference.